World

A world is a collection of individual lots within a single larger map. Worlds are the primary setting and place of residence for Sims in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4, taking the place of the smaller, less complex neighborhoods featured in The Sims and The Sims 2. Worlds are often referred to as towns, cities (especially urban worlds, like Bridgeport), or (erroneously) neighborhoods. In The Sims 4, worlds consist of multiple individual neighborhoods, whereas in The Sims 3 there are no formal neighborhoods within worlds.

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The Sims 3 introduced the concept of an expanded "open world." Especially early in the development of the game, these were called towns, as they were much larger and more complex than the neighborhoods of the previous games. Worlds are open for Sims to explore, and Sims can be controlled even when not on a lot. Major buildings and landmarks in each world, including locations where adults can work and where children and teens can attend school, are represented by rabbit holes, which can be interacted with but cannot be looked into by players. Each world has outer boundaries beyond which Sims cannot travel, and Sims cannot visit other worlds (except "sub-worlds").

Players are given a large degree of control over the appearance of the world through the Edit Town menu. Players can also create their own custom worlds with the Create a World tool, an officially-developed, separately-downloaded program. In The Sims 3: Supernatural, players can tweak the number of supernatural Sims and celebrities[TS3:LN] through a new setting known as "Population Control Settings".

As of Late Night, worlds are divided into "Sims 3 Towns" and "Late Night Towns". There seem to be important differences between the two, such as the Sims they can spawn, etc. Bridgeport is the only pre-made world to be cataloged as a city. The rest, including the exotic destinations from World Adventures, Sims University, and Oasis Landing are considered suburbs.

Prior to patch 55, families/households could not move from one world to another. The patch added a feature which allows households to be moved. Sims in the moved household lose all relationships with Sims outside the household (family relationships are also often affected), but retain earned skills and achievements, and the number of days that have passed in the game. If the destination world does not contain a rabbit hole where a moved Sim works, that Sim will also lose their job. This feature is known to be somewhat buggy.[1]

While Sunset Valley and Riverview feature younger versions of living The Sims 2 Sims, Twinbrook's returning families are up to two generations behind their The Sims 2 counterparts, and Barnacle Bay even acts as a sequel (Dina Caliente's bio states that she wants to break hearts as she did in Pleasantview), this evidence suggests that the different worlds may also be located in different times. When a Sim hits a Hot Spot in Bridgeport, a tag may appear stating "This is hotter than Hank Goddard when he caught on fire", meaning something of the sort might have happened in between the timelines of Sunset Valley and Bridgeport.

In The Sims 4, a world is a collection of individual neighborhoods (also known as districts) within a single playable map.

Travel between neighborhoods is possible, as long as both neighborhoods are within the same world. Travel within a neighborhood is still "open" as in The Sims 3, but Sims outside the loaded neighborhood cannot be directly controlled. Players can switch between neighborhoods at will, though this brings up a loading screen. Sims can freely travel between worlds, though this also brings up a loading screen.